VacationSelector
The Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose, San Jose, Costa Rica
San Jose, Costa RicaThe Metropolitan Cathedral of San Jose
The Latin Bridge over the Miljacka, Sarajevo
SarajevoThe Latin Bridge over the Miljacka

Photos: San Jose, Costa Rica by Bernard Gagnon, CC0; Sarajevo by Tumi-1983, CC0.

San Jose, Costa Rica or Sarajevo?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose San Jose, Costa Rica for

  • beaches
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on San Jose, Costa Rica’s own page.

Choose Sarajevo for

  • getting around
  • culture and sights
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Sarajevo’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. San Jose, Costa Rica 12, Sarajevo 6: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Food & drink. San Jose, Costa Rica 42, Sarajevo 60: Sarajevo leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Sarajevo 64: Sarajevo leads by 26 points.
Nightlife. San Jose, Costa Rica 40, Sarajevo 44: Sarajevo leads by 4 points.
Nature & outdoors. San Jose, Costa Rica and Sarajevo are level on 78.
Day trips. San Jose, Costa Rica 52, Sarajevo 62: Sarajevo leads by 10 points.
Good for families. San Jose, Costa Rica 44, Sarajevo 38: San Jose, Costa Rica leads by 6 points.
Getting around. San Jose, Costa Rica 30, Sarajevo 60: Sarajevo leads by 30 points.
Shopping & style. San Jose, Costa Rica 36, Sarajevo 40: Sarajevo leads by 4 points.
Affordability. San Jose, Costa Rica 54, Sarajevo 80: Sarajevo leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. San Jose, Costa Rica 38, Sarajevo 40: Sarajevo leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. San Jose, Costa Rica 28, Sarajevo 42: Sarajevo leads by 14 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: San Jose, Costa Rica and Sarajevo.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

San Jose, Costa Rica
41match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Sarajevo
Best match
51match

Wins on getting around and culture and sights with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

San Jose, Costa Rica in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
173 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Sarajevo in July

28 °Cdaytime high
14 °Cnight-time low
75 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
San Jose, Costa RicaSarajevo

Where the figures come from

San Jose, Costa Rica's station stands 241 m below the city centre, so the centre is likely a little cooler than the figures say.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. San Jose, Costa Rica: 1991-2020 normals, Juan Santamaria (16.8 km from centre). Sarajevo: 1991-2020 normals, Sarajevo-Bejelave (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSarajevo
Official languageSpanishCroatian, Serbian, Bosnian
CurrencyCosta Rican Colon (CRC)Convertible Mark (BAM)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzCF230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-6UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer
Emergency number911112
Elevation1,161 m518 m
Main airportJuan Santamaría International Airport (SJO)16 km from centre49 non-stop destinationsSarajevo International Airport (SJJ)7 km from centre38 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureSan Jose, Costa RicaSarajevo
City population335,007275,524
People per km²7,5111,947
Museums within 10 km925
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow San Jose, Costa Rica or Sarajevo somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-01. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.